Poll

State

Not that a pick me up was needed at the fourth practice of the 2015 Spring Season, but it was most certainly delivered. It was delivered in the form of Special Olympian Abe Assaad, and he was the definitive highlight of the days events.
The second practice of the week, and the fourth of the spring, started much like all the others, with some special teams periods and a good team stretch. After that stretch, Coach Davie brought the team together, and brought in Abe into the huddle.
Abe, along with many other Special Olympians, took part in the Mayor’s Invitational, which was held at the Albuquerque Convention Center on February 21, and is a part of Special Olympics New Mexico. The UNM football players went down and served as judges, timers, coaches, cheerleaders and anything else for the event, getting to meet all of the Special Olympians, including Abe.
As a thanks, Abe sent the following note to UNM head coach Bob Davie.
“Dear Coach Davie,

Minor League Baseball recemtly announced rules and procedures aimed at improving the pace of play in games at the Triple-A and Double-A levels.
The procedures, created in partnership with Major League Baseball, will monitor the time taken between innings and pitches, and will limit the amount of time allowed during pitching changes. Umpires will continue to enforce rules prohibiting batters from leaving the batter’s box between pitches.
Timers have been installed at all Triple-A and Double-A parks in plain view of umpires, players and fans to monitor the pace of play and determine when violations occur. The month of April will serve as a grace period, with players receiving warnings for infractions. Beginning May 1, rules will be enforced as written. The regulations and penalties for non-compliance are listed below.
INNING BREAKS
-Inning breaks will be two minutes, 25 seconds in duration. The first batter of an inning is encouraged to be in the batter’s box and alert to the pitcher with 20 seconds left on the inning break timer. The pitcher must begin his wind-up or begin the motion to come to the set position at any point within the last 20 seconds of the 2:25 break.

After a lot of sunny days this winter, dark clouds and snowy weather returned to northern New Mexico last week.
Pajarito got 4 new inches of snow last night, 5 the night before and 11 since it was open last Monday.
“It’s a blessing from Mother Nature,” Pajarito General Manager Tom Long said. “We wish it would have come in December, but we’re happy to have it. It made the conditions even better.”
The 11 inches of new snow didn’t enable Pajarito to open any new terrain, but it did make the conditions on the trails that were already open nice and soft. Friday’s snow in particular was cold and dry — the definition of powder.
“It should make for really fun skiing,” Long said.
Snow is in Pajarito’s forecast for the next week also. Depending on how much snow actually falls, Long said they might be able to get the mountain 100 percent open.
Right now, the front side is essentially 100 percent open while trails on the town side are still just a little too thin.
The mountain’s tree skiing, however, is starting to be ok in spots.
“The timing (of the storm) was good,” Long said. “We’re looking forward to a nice weekend.”

A game at WisePies Arena might be exactly what the University of New Mexico Lobos need and that bill will be filled by the San Diego State Aztecs today.
The Aztecs are a team that will bring the ornery out of The Pit, which will be sold out for the game. And Coach Craig Neal’s Lobos probably could use the friendly confines of WisePies Arena to help them, as Neal said, “get over the hump.”
The Lobos held a 14-point lead over Nevada with 8:17 to play Saturday in Reno, but allowed the Wolfpack to force a tie in regulation and then pull out a 66-63 win in overtime.
It was the Lobos’ fourth consecutive loss as they continue to slide down the Mountain West standings. UNM is now 14-11 overall and 6-7 in league play.
“I just thought they (the Wolfpack) became real aggressive,” said Neal explaining Nevada’s rally. “They continued to drive our zone, and we didn’t get in front of them. We didn’t have as much pop in our step defensively as we did in the first half. We have to figure it out. It’s very frustrating.”
The Lobos got a bucket inside from J.J. N’Ganga with 11:55 to play, which pushed UNM’s lead to 45-31. UNM also led 52-38 with 8:17 to go and the Lobos were not in bad shape up 56-48 with 4:09 to play.

The New Mexico State University Aggies held the Seattle U. Redhawks to just 4 second half field goals in a big win Thursday night in Las Cruces.
The Aggies topped the Redhawks 73-47 at the Pan Am Center. That win bumped the Aggies up to 8-1 in Western Athletic Conference play and 16-10 overall. The Aggies have won six straight contests.
Pascal Siakam finished with a career-high 24 points for NMSU, which avenged its only loss of the WAC season Thursday. NMSU’s only conference loss came Jan. 17 in Seattle.
Currently, the Aggies have a two-game lead over Missouri-Kansas City and Grand Canyon University in the WAC standings. They play Grand Canyon’s Antelopes Feb. 21 in Phoenix.
Tshilidzi Nephawe, who was named the WAC Player of the Week following big games last week, had 11 points and 6 boards and DK Eldridge also finished with 11 for NMSU.
NMSU’s defense highlighted the win. Along with holding the Redhawks to just 12 total field goals, it also force 11 first half turnovers, turning into 10 Aggie points on the other end.
Lobos look to snap streak